Teen to be tried Wednesday in Noel Night shooting

Detroit police investigate a shooting on Brush Street just north of Warren Avenue during the Annual Noel Night festival in Midtown on Dec. 2, 2017.(Photo: Anthony Lanzilote / Special to The Detroit News)

A trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday for a Detroit teen charged with shooting four people and causing a mass panic during the city’s Noel Night celebration in December.

Calvin Stephens, who is charged with four counts of assault with intent to murder and felony firearms, is accused of opening fire during the popular pre-holiday event Dec. 2 in Detroit’s Midtown district. He will be tried in Wayne County Juvenile Court before Judge Frank Szymanski.

The incident occurred at Farnsworth and John R. Authorities say Stephens, 16, was armed with a handgun and shot three Detroit males, ages 14, 16 and 19, and a 17-year-old female.

The shooting sent people running in panic onto Woodward and other streets near the Detroit Institute of Arts. Parents with small children and others in strollers ran for cover as the shots rang out.

Stephens was arrested the following day and charged as an adult-designed defendant, which would allow the judge to sentence him as a juvenile or an adult, or give him a blended juvenile and adult sentence. He was given a $50,000 cash bond after being charged.

As a result of the shooting, organizers of Noel Night met to discuss security concerns and said shortly afterward they were considering canceling the 45-year-old event, which typically draws tens of thousands of people. They did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Detroit attorney Marlon Blake Evans, representing Stephens, asked Wayne County Juvenile Judge Virgil Smith to allow Stephens’ family to post 10 percent of the $50,000 bond but the judge denied the request, saying Stephens could represent a danger to the community.

Smith added, “It’s hard for me to ignore the facts in this case,” noting that four people were shot.